DTUI.com Diversity Blog

It is unfortunate that we have not matured to the point that race does not matter in our society. Leadership is the key to moving society towards its higher ideals. That’s what makes Tavis Smiley’s efforts to upstage race in the 2008 presidential election so important. The absence of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Arizona Senator John McCain and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson at the September 27 debate that aired on PBS was not a surprise.

My diversity expertise leads me to believe that the views expressed by the lesser known Republican candidates’ about racial issues are not that different from their absent colleagues. After all, race is something few people have learned to address competently. Alan Keyes focused on black crime, single parent homes, and low academic achievement in the black community. However, I did not hear a single word of praise for black people. Ron Paul of Texas, Rom Tancredo of Colorado, Sam Brownback of Kansas, and Duncan Hunter of California appeared very uneasy with talking about race. 

  One candidate mentioned that race is less important than individual rights. Another used the same new reports we have read to claim that Michael Bell of the Jena 6 deserves jail time for kicking his white classmate after he was unconscious. He may be correct—if the facts hold up, but that is not the point.

 Racial politics is about balance. You don’t have to bend over backwards to placate African Americans. We want politicians to be honest AND thoughtful. Talk about crime and welfare mothers, but also take time to learn about the black people who are hard working poor, profiled by the police, and taken advantage of by car dealership salespeople.  The black community is more diverse than most of the candidates seem to realize or think is relevant. The candidate who came closest to this understanding during the PBS debate was Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. 

  The Democrats do a similar dance with race. Barack Obama really gets it among this group. Being bi-racial puts him ahead of the entire crowd. However, he is still a politician. Glimpses of his deeper understanding of the issues surface on occasion, but he is mostly bogged down with political correctness when we need him to use his platform to teach society. Of course, that would be political suicide.

 No, Hillary does not get it. Don’t get me wrong. She and Bill are liberal-minded—to a point. Would they warmly accept Chelsea marrying an African American? Isn’t that the litmus test for us all? My bet is that Bill Richardson will be just behind Obama in getting that one right. I’ll let you chime on the rest of the Democrat hopeful.

 After all of the song and dance is over, we will have a new president and still be left with a racially divided country after her or his term ends. That’s the shameful part of it.

 Thanks Tavis for your effort in either case. It took poor race relations leadership to get the country where it is today. It will take super leadership to get us beyond rhetoric and fear of the “N” word. Good luck to each of the presidential hopefuls. I request is for that the winner creates a Secretary of American Diversity who has the credentials, expertise, compassion, and authority to start moving us forward as the great nation we are. Representative Ron Paul from Texas courageously said that the Iraq war is breaking our country financially. My challenge to him and the others is to put effort into harnessing our diversity for the sake of driving innovation needed to get us out of the crisis.

Do we have a social responsibility as Americans to seek out and change social injustice in all of its shapes and forms? If not, what will be the social and economic consequences? If so, why don’t we start right now by learning more about a case in Jena, Louisiana?

Jena, Louisiana has made international news. Not for suffering a natural disaster, but as a result of criminal justice practices that appear to reflect a modern Jim Crow system. A set of pictures of the city taken by photoblogger Michael David Murphy takes us along Jena’s Jim Crow Road (http://www.whileseated.org/photo/003262.shtml).[i] The street name reflects the 1950s race relations consciousness in Jena. The Jena 6 refers to a group of African American male high school adolescents who are facing no less than 20 years in prison for a fight with a fellow white student.

The first report of the Jena 6 was in July 10, 2007 on You Tube by Collateral News (http://www.youtube.com/watch?V=YuoiZnr4jLY). Since then Jena has made news around the world.

What makes the Jena 6 incident so important? In a nutshell, a small town filled with stories about unfair treatment towards its 12% black population becomes unglued when an African American male student decides to sit under a tree “designated” for white students only. The next day nooses were hung over the tree presumably to intimidate the black students. To make matters worse, the district attorney shows up on campus and threatens the black students with a comment about how he can make their lives difficult with the stroke of a pen. Things get really out of hand when white students are reprimanded for beating up a black student, but a subsequent fight in which the white student is harmed results in criminal charges against the Jena 6—even though the white student was treated for minor injuries and well enough to hang out with his buddies the same day.

You can learn more about the case by following the links above. After sorting through the news stories and blogs to get a better sense of what happened, I see nothing refuting the news media accounts. In addition, Syracuse University Professor Dr. Boyce Watkins and Marc Lamont Hill of Temple University have combined forces to seek disbarment proceedings against the district attorney in the Jena 6 case (http://www.blackstarnews.com/?C=135&a=3681).  To top things off, the more severe charges against the defendants have been dropped as pressure for justice in the case increases. Marches to the town, national and international journalists’ presence, and what many view as “weak evidence” (e.g., calling the boys’ tennis shoes a weapon) continue to haunt the people of Jena.

The very social fabric of our society continues to fray after the civil rights movement that took place more than 40 years ago. Americans vowed to create a more equitable, civil, and just society. We have clearly been successful. The problem is that we rely too much on the government and others to make changes without making any personal sacrifices.

Most of us see ourselves as liberal-minded and sympathetic towards people who are discriminated against. However, too many of us allow Uncle Joe or Aunt Jennie to tell derogatory jokes and say insulting things about other groups without challenging them. We say to ourselves and our children that we do not agree with these relatives, but they are too old or ignorant to change. This is merely self protection and collusion in social injustice. The result is that we indirect perpetuate injustive for the sake of avoiding conflict.
 We also notice that things are not equal at work. As the people of color increase in number, we notice that they are the ones that are passed over for promotion. We justify they’re not getting promoted or equal pay in order to avoid conflict. We also notice that we live in a neighborhood where most of the neighbors look like us and have similar views. We justify living in a monocultural neighborhood in order to avoid the discomfort of daily contact with people who are different. The result is Sunday morning church services where most of the congregation looks like the minister.